Hawaii 5 Point 0
by Qweb
Summary: When an earthquake hits Oahu, Five-0 faces death-defying rescues, after-shocking action and, literally, lots of fireworks. Set in January season 2 when an earthquake actually hit the Big Island. Our favorite foursome with just a little Lori. Rated T for some language.
1. Hawaii Five Point 0

_So I've finally wrestled this story into submission. It only took a year._

_On Jan. 23, 2012, an earthquake initially measured at magnitude 5.0 hit the Big Island of Hawaii. No serious injuries or damage were reported. What if it had been otherwise?_

_Thanks to my sister Jelsemium for the great title._

* * *

**Hawaii 5 Point 0**

How big is that truck? Danny Williams wondered, as a rumble rattled the Five-0 offices.

Danny and Lori Weston were using the smart table to research information about drug thefts from local hospitals. The other Five-0 officers were doing the same thing in their offices on their phones.

The rumbling grew louder. A pen began to jitter around the smart table. Danny felt a sense of vertigo, as if the ground was moving.

"Earthquake!" Kono called from her office.

Shit! The ground was moving! In a flash, Danny remembered Grace solemnly passing on her emergency preparedness lesson. Don't run. Don't try to go far. Take cover and hang on. Face away from windows.

Danny looked at the glass walls surrounding him. Double shit!

As the rumbling took on a distinct rolling motion, Danny dived for cover beneath the smart table, but checked when he saw Lori standing paralyzed, wide eyes focused on a monitor rocking frantically above her head.

With no time for discussion, Danny took her down the way he'd put a recalcitrant suspect into a patrol car. He kneed her behind her knees so her legs buckled. Hand on her head, he pushed her down and under the table. Lori didn't fight him. The action woke her from her paralysis and she scrambled forward, making room for Danny to roll in beside her.

Now the shaking made such a roar, Danny had to shout in the woman's ear.

"Cover your head! Glass!"

Looking out, Lori could see the glass walls flexing as the floor humped and writhed.

She covered her head, just as a glass panel exploded with a crack as loud as a pistol shot. She felt Danny flinch against her and a sharp exhalation of breath on her neck, but whether he cursed or exclaimed in pain, she couldn't hear. There was another shattering crack, then a metallic snap and one of the monitors crashed to the floor. Lori flinched and unconsciously burrowed closer to Danny. He gathered her in and the two East Coasters rode out the waves together.

The rolling seemed to continue forever. The two flat on the floor could still feel it, even when the noise had died away and their teammates began to emerge from their offices.

"At least a 5.0," Chin commented.

"A lot of rolling, though. The epicenter's probably not right under Honolulu," Kono said.

"What a mess," Steve said, broken glass crunching underfoot. He saw four feet still beneath the smart table. "You guys can come out now."

"But it's not over," Lori protested. "I can still feel it."

"Maybe, but the worst is over — for now."

"For now?" the woman asked fearfully.

"There's always a possibility of aftershocks," Chin said kindly. He knelt beside the table and offered a hand to help her out.

Danny didn't move.

"Taking a nap under there, Danny?" Steve asked.

"I need some help here. I'm caught," the detective replied.

"I think he's hurt," Lori said, as she gained her feet. "That glass."

"Danny?" Steve said in concern. Careful of the jagged shards, he dropped to his knees and peered under the table. "Geez, Danny!"

Splinters of glass had peppered the detective's arm and side. A shard the size of a jackknife blade stabbed deep in his forearm where it had been protecting his head and another had lodged in his armpit, so he couldn't put his arm down.

"I can't move," Danny said, more in aggravation than in pain. "Get it out!"

"Maybe we should call the paramedics," Steve said.

"You don't think they have better things to do after an earthquake?" Danny demanded.

Through a broken exterior window they could hear sirens. Lots of sirens. Still, Steve hesitated, not wanting to hurt his friend further.

"Every time I breathe, it stabs deeper," Danny said. "Get it out!"

Steve would have preferred to get Danny out from under the table first, but he couldn't see any way of moving his friend without moving the shard of glass.

"I'll have to pull it out. Slow or fast?" He gave Danny the choice.

"Fast," Danny said. He was afraid he'd flinch and slice himself open.

Steve reached for the glass. Danny recoiled.

"Easy," Steve soothed.

"Watch your fingers," Danny retorted. "It's sharp!"

Steve used a corner of his over shirt to protect his fingers. He carefully closed his fingers on the glass, then snatched it away. Danny hissed in pain, then sighed in relief, when he was able to put his arm down. He felt blood trickling down his side, but the sharp, stabbing pain was gone.

"Coming out," he announced.

With Steve's help, he edged out and sat beside the smart table. He used the edge of his shirt to pull the other piece of glass out of his arm. It was such a relief to have it gone, he didn't care that blood ran freely down his arm and dripped on the floor, but his friends did.

Kono ran for the first aid kit while Steve wrapped his hand tightly around the wound. Danny hissed again, but didn't complain.

As Kono ran back, Chin said, "Let's get that shirt off." He gripped the hem of Danny's polo shirt and pulled it over his friend's head when Steve took his hand away for just a second.

Lori blinked to see the muscular shoulders that had been hidden by his shirt. She knew Steve was built, she hadn't realized the Jersey detective was, too. But the attractive view was spoiled by the smear of red down his side. Lori dropped to her knees beside Danny and began to clean the oozing wound with an antiseptic wipe. Kono began cleaning the deeper wound on Danny's arm, while Steve held it out for her.

"All this attention, brah. You'll get spoiled," Chin teased.

Smiling, Danny winced at the stinging antiseptic. "But love hurts, Chin."

With no room for him to help Danny, Chin went for a stepstool to take down a monitor that was dangling precariously from a bent and twisted bracket.

"Thank you, Danny," Lori said, fervently. "I was petrified. I didn't know what to do."

Danny patted her knee. "Extra credit," he said, with a hiccup that might have been ruthlessly suppressed hysteria.

Lori realized the Jerseyan had never been through an earthquake either.

Danny covered his face with his left hand for a moment, then spoke, "After the tsunami warning last year …"

Everyone nodded. Even Lori had heard about the fake tsunami.

"After that," Danny continued. "Grace's school decided to do a unit on emergency preparedness — tsunamis, fires, hurricanes and earthquakes. Part of the lesson required them to practice with their families. Because she's my good girl, Grace not only practiced with Rachel and Stan, she quizzed me. I had training on fire safety, been through two hurricanes in Jersey and knew more about tsunamis than I ever wanted to, but I didn't know about earthquakes; so we practiced duck and cover." Danny swallowed emotion. "Grace got extra credit for practicing with two families. My daughter's extra credit saved my life."

"That's a little dramatic. The quake wasn't that big," Steve mocked gently, trying to bring Danny out of his anxiety.

Danny's blue eyes were as impenetrable as a glacier.

"You think I'm exaggerating?" Danny pulled his arm out of Steve and Kono's hands. "I covered my head with my hands like Grace told me."

"Which is how you got stabbed in the armpit," Steve said. (It was a little funny.)

Danny put his hands over his head. Steve was silenced when he saw the wound on Danny's forearm was beside his neck. If his arm hadn't been in place — as Grace had taught him — the glass would have lodged in his carotid artery. He could have bled to death before the earthquake stopped and even Lori right next to him wouldn't have been able to hear him call for help.

"My baby saved my life," Danny said, his voice choked with tearful pride.

Lori put her hand on his bare shoulder. "Mine, too," she said, as she looked at the fallen monitor and the glass littering the floor.

"I wish I knew if she was all right," Danny said quietly.

Kono put her hand on his other shoulder. "She's in school. It's the safest place, Danny. They train for emergencies."

Danny nodded, unable to speak.

Steve wanted to squeeze his shoulder in comfort, but the women had that covered. Instead he went to his office, dug into what Danny called the cupboard of classified contraptions and brought back a phone and a pair of laminated, 3-by-5 cards.

"Once we get squared away here, we have some places to check out for damage or injuries," he explained. The others nodded. It was all hands on deck after a public emergency. Five-0 was just one of the agencies that would be checking for danger.

"But first on my list is Grace's school," Steve said pointing out that, in fact, it was on his list.

"The cell towers might be overloaded with calls," Chin warned as he worked on the stubbornly bent bracket.

"I don't care how many towers the earthquake knocks out, it's not going to touch the satellites," Steve answered, showing his sat phone.

He figured the school phone would be busy with anxious parental calls, so he dialed the principal's personal cell phone.

"Why do you even have that number?" Danny asked.

"It's classified," Steve smirked.

"Control freak," Danny retorted, smiling.

"Mrs. Morimoto, this is Commander McGarrett of Five-0. I'm calling to make sure everyone is OK."

He didn't fool the principal. She reported that all the students and the staff members were safe and accounted for — and she could see Grace Williams with her class out on the schoolyard where they had evacuated the buildings.

"Would you like to speak to her?" the principal asked.

"Please," Steve said humbly.

In a moment, he heard Mrs. Morimoto say away from the phone, "Grace, Commander McGarrett would like to speak to you."

"Uncle Steve, is Daddy OK?"

Steve should have realized she be scared getting a call from him.

"He's fine, Grace. He's right here."

"Monkey, are you OK?" Danny said into the phone.

"Danno," the child was relieved. "You're OK?"

Danny wouldn't lie to Grace. "I got a couple of cuts from flying glass, but I protected my head like you taught me."

"If you're OK, why did Uncle Steve call me?"

"Because he knew I was worried about you, and because it's his phone," Danny answered, logically.

"Oh. OK."

"Thanks for teaching me about earthquakes, monkey."

"You're welcome, Danno. I've got to give Mrs. Morimoto back her phone now."

"OK, be good and be careful, Grace," Danny said.

"You, too, Daddy."

Danny handed the phone back. "Thanks, Steve."

"Anytime, partner."

Chin suddenly swore, causing everyone to stop and stare, because he just didn't swear. Standing on the stepstool, he'd had a strange sense of déjà vu, as if he'd seen this scene of damage before, but in reverse. Then he understood.

"I was thinking these windows shouldn't have broken," Chin explained. "But now I see the ones that broke today are the ones that didn't break when Laura Hill's car blew up. They must have been damaged by the explosion, but it didn't show up until now."

"They should have been checked after the explosion," Lori protested. "That's protocol."

The original Five-0 member exchanged glances. "Don't look at me," Steve said. "I was in prison."

"Kono and I were unemployed and Chin had a new job," Danny said.

"And the governor was dead," Kono added. "So they must have fixed the obvious damage but there wasn't anyone in authority to get the building checked for hidden damage."

"So it took an earthquake to show us that the building is unsafe?" Danny said, incredulous.

"It makes me wonder what else was overlooked," Chin said darkly.

He went back to work on the stubborn bracket, asking Steve to give him a hand. Steve left the women to bandage Danny's wounds and help him put on a white T-shirt Kono had fetched from his locker.

"Still white T-shirts, Danny" Kono chided. "White's boring."

"I am not a billboard," Danny retorted. "Someone wants me to advertise their products, they can pay up front."

Steve chuckled as he took hold of the monitor. With a fierce yank, Chin finally wrenched the bracket loose.

Then the whole room lurched. Chin lost his balance on the stool and Steve dropped the monitor to catch his friend.

Vibrations began, sharper jolts than the previous rolling. Lori and Danny didn't need Kono's warning this time. They dived back under the smart table and Kono rolled in beside them. Steve set Chin on his feet and pushed him under the conference table. The Five-0 team held on as the building and rattled and shook.

The same thought was in all their minds. What other damage hadn't been fixed?

**To be Continued**

* * *

_Wouldn't you know, as soon as I started a story with Lori in it, they took her off the show! Maybe that's one of the reasons I had a hard time getting past Chapter 1. __(Seriously, the first chapter's been written since January 2012!) _Sorry, Lori lovers, doesn't look like she'll be in much of the story.


	2. Earth-Shaking

_So, I have had chapter 1 written since January 2012, but I had no idea where chapter 2 was going and then Stormy Weather used up most of my rescue scenarios. I debated just leaving Chapter 1 as a one-shot, but it wanted to be more. So it waited while I finished Stormy and What If I Was Wrong? and assorted one-shots. Now, finally, Chapter 2!_

* * *

**Chapter 2 – Earth-Shaking**

The aftershock had a different feeling. The ground jolted several times as if the island was falling down stairs. The Five-0 fivesome heard a loud crack resounding through the building's walls and a noise like rocks falling, accompanied by yelps of fright that would have been inaudible if the side windows had been intact.

After a few seconds that seemed like forever, the quake tapered off into shudders and rolled to an almost-stop.

"I see what you mean," Kono said, as she rolled briskly out from under the smart table. "It still feels like it's going."

"I don't know whether the earth is still moving or if it's all in my head," Danny complained. He winced a bit as the bandages on his side pulled, but was satisfied he hadn't started bleeding again.

"Like getting your land legs back after being at sea," Steve commented.

He and Chin were pulling out two backpacks of emergency gear, stuffing in two satellite phones and a handful of extra batteries from the rotating supply drawer.

"Come on, we'd better check out that noise," he ordered.

The officers could still hear distressed sounds coming from what must be the front of the historic building but they didn't hear any screams of pain, so they hoped whatever happened wasn't too bad.

"Chin, you and Kono take this list. You've got all the historic sites in this neighborhood, including this one," Steve said, handing over one of the laminated cards. "Old buildings. Lots of tourists."

"Potential for disaster," Kono commented. "Thanks, boss."

Steve grinned. "At least you don't have the capitol building. The staff there is responsible."

"Of course, it's the newest building in the block. All the latest earthquake safety features," Chin grumbled humorously.

"Danny and I will take the other list. Lori, you stay here and serve as command center," Steve said kindly. "We can't leave headquarters unguarded with half the windows broken."

The East Coast woman was still visibly shaken, but she pulled herself together valiantly. "Maybe Danny should stay here. He's hurt."

All eyes went to the detective.

"Your call, partner," Steve said.

Danny pulled a windbreaker over his T-shirt, worked his arms back and forth and twisted his torso experimentally. "Just twinges," he announced. "I'm good. And Lori's better with the techie stuff," he pointed out.

"You're not as bad as you like to pretend," Kono accused as the original four trotted toward the stairs. "You just like to get out of the computer work."

"Why should I do it when I have people to do it for me," Danny said in the snootiest voice he could manage.

Laughing the group exited, cautiously checking for more broken glass or other damage.

Lori felt a little left out, yet glad she didn't have to venture outside just yet. "At least we still have power," she said to the smart table.

So of course the lights went out. The room was lit only by the ready lights of the computers, which had their own emergency power.

"Oh, come on!" the woman said, exasperation driving away the last of her fear.

* * *

Steve scanned the front entrance — side to side, up and down — as if he expected a perp to leap at him. Satisfied nothing looked dangerous he moved quickly outside. A section of bricks had cracked and fallen — just like a landslide — on the front steps. A woman tourist was crying with a group gathered around her, comforting her. But no one appeared to be hurt.

"Everyone all right?" Steve asked, flashing his badge.

"It almost hit me!" the woman sobbed. "If he hadn't grabbed me!" She pointed at a man standing nearby.

"I'm from California," he explained. "I know it's safer to be out in the open during an earthquake than to be next to a building in case stuff like that happens." He pointed at the pile of rubble. "So when she started to run that way, I grabbed her arm."

"And then crash!" another tourist said.

"So you're all right?" Kono double-checked with the crying woman.

She nodded, wiping her tears. "I'm sorry. I was just scared. I've never been in an earthquake before."

"You should feel honored. We don't hold them for all the tourists," Chin said, tongue-in-cheek, which made the victim smile.

"If everyone's OK here, we're heading out," Steve told Chin.

"Right, we'll check the rest of the building, then head over to the palace," the lieutenant answered.

* * *

Steve automatically moved toward the Camaro then changed his mind. "No, we'd better take my truck. It's be better if we run into a rock slide or fallen trees."

"So this is what it takes," Danny commented as he climbed into the Silverado.

"What?" Steve tossed the bag in the backseat, then slid behind the wheel.

"It takes an earth-shaking event for you to drive your own truck," Danny said.

Steve answered by stomping on the accelerator, throwing Danny back in the seat harder than necessary.

The detective grabbed for the safety bar and winced. "Hey. Injured man here," he protested.

Steve slowed in apology, reducing to a bat-out-of-heck speed instead of bat-out-of-hell. He wanted to make up for their delay in leaving the office.

"When we were researching earthquakes for Grace's project, we came across a sad story," Danny said conversationally, projecting over the sound of the siren. "After one of the L.A earthquakes, a motorcycle officer was rushing to report in and, because of the dust shaken up by the quake, he didn't see that a freeway overpass had collapsed. He flew right off the edge. Witnesses below said he looked like a comet with all the lights flashing as he fell to his death. That story scared my baby to death."

Steve didn't answer directly, but he did reduce their rate of travel to below freeway speeds, so Danny counted that as a win. A double win when they turned a corner and found a fallen tree in the street. Steve slammed on the brakes and the Silverado slid to a stop inches from a branch that could have gone straight through their windshield.

"If you say 'I told you so,' you will be walking back to HQ," Steve warned.

"Would I do that?" Danny smirked.

After checking for downed power lines, Steve looped a tow chain around the tree trunk and Danny towed it to the side of the street. Then, refusing the give up the wheel, Danny drove to their first "target," as the Navy SEAL called the businesses on the list. Their checklist focused on an industrial area set apart from the residential areas. Two chemical laboratories, a pharmaceutical manufacturing company and a fireworks warehouse were in the area.

Automatic cutoffs had worked perfectly at their first stop, a chemical laboratory. The only hazardous materials spill was a bottle of bleach dropped by the janitor during the shaking. A three-inch puddle, quickly diluted and mopped, fell within safety parameters, the lab safety officer and McGarrett agreed seriously, while Danny and the janitor rolled their eyes. Steve signed off on the lab and, reclaiming the driver's seat, he headed toward the next target.

* * *

After checking the rest of the Five-0 building, Chin and Kono jogged across King Street to the Iolani Palace. Visitors were milling around outside in the large park surrounding the historic building, which had been home to the last king and queen of Hawaii.

"Everyone all right here?" Kono called, showing her badge.

"Oh, officer! Thank heavens!" a woman exclaimed. "There's a crazy man holding people hostage on the second floor."

"Crazy? What are the docents doing about it?" Chin asked.

"He is a docent!"

**TBC**


	3. It's Not Hyperbole When It's True

_Author's Note: I'm from Southern California and I've been through three significant earthquakes, none really big where I was, thank heaven. A 5.0 isn't huge, but is likely to cause some damage. People fall, pieces of buildings fall, power lines fall (did that in Stormy, not here), and stuff falls off shelves. Damage can happen miles from the epicenter. The Northridge quake caused damage at Anaheim Stadium, 50 miles away. People have heart attacks out of fear and tie up the phone lines calling family members and calling the police to kindly tell them there's been an earthquake. Hawaii Five Point 0 is likely to have more feel-able aftershocks than any quake I've been in, but, hey, plot device. Anyway, some of the aftershocks are seen twice, from Danny and Steve's point of view and from Chin and Kono's. Oh, and the motorcycle officer story in the last chapter was, sadly, a true story._

* * *

**Chapter 3 — It's Not Hyperbole When It's True**

Chin and Kono ran into the ground floor with their hands on their guns.

"No, nonono," a man cried, waving his hands as he ran toward them. "He's not dangerous, please. He's confused. Please, he has Down syndrome."

The officers put their guns back and showed their IDs to the distraught man, the volunteer coordinator, who happened to be the only paid employee at the museum at the moment.

Looking up the grand staircase, Chin and Kono could see a short man with an oversized head, standing with his hands spread, blocking tourists from descending the magnificent artifact. Made of precious koa wood, the staircase was a historic work of art. The staircase had felt the steps of the Hawaiian king and queen and all their noble guests (also all their servants, because it was the only staircase in the building). What it didn't feel was the footsteps of all the tourists visiting the restored palace. They ascend to the second floor in a tiny elevator.

But after two temblors, they didn't trust that tiny space. They wanted to escape down the wide-open steps, but the mentally handicapped man was defending the stairs.

His voice could be clearly heard from below. "Visitors are not allowed on the stairs."

"Please, he doesn't … He's a very good worker, but he's not flexible. He knows all the rules and gets upset if someone violates them," the volunteer coordinator Mitch Langston said. "I told him to let the people come down this once, but he looked at me like I was breaking the law."

"What's his name?" Kono asked.

"Vinnie, Vinnie Roland."

"All right, we'll talk to him," Chin said. He took one step toward the forbidden stairs.

"Would you please put on the booties?" Langston asked.

He pointed at the paper booties that he and everyone in the museum wore to protect the wood floors.

"Really?" Kono asked, raising her eyebrows.

"It will help if Vinnie sees you obeying the rules," Langston pointed out.

The officers pulled the booties over their shoes hastily. The visitors were getting restless. When the building shivered in a minor aftershock, the crowd surged forward and seemed about ready to push Vinnie down the stairs to escape.

"Everybody take it easy!" Chin raised his voice in command as he held up his badge for everyone to see. "We are police officers. What seems to be the problem here?"

He and Kono began to ascend the precious stairs, causing Vinnie to squawk at them, "Visitors are not allowed on the stairs!"

"We're not visitors," Chin said calmly. "We're police officers." He showed his badge again, as did Kono. "We are here to clear everyone out of this building."

"About time!" one of the tourists muttered.

Kono quelled him with a glare, then motioned everyone to keep quiet and let chin work his magic.

"Vinnie, you need to stand aside and let these people walk down the stairs and go outside," Chin said.

"Visitors are not allowed on the stairs," the docent said, almost in tears. "They have to use the elevator."

"Vinnie, you felt the earthquake, didn't you?"

"Two of them," Vinnie agreed.

"The State of Hawaii rules say in case of an earthquake, elevators can't be used until they have been checked by an expert. People on an upper floor must take the nearest staircase to the ground floor. This is the only staircase in the building," Chin said. Really, there was no actual law that forbade the use of elevators. It was recommended practice.

"But these stairs are a work of art," Vinnie pleaded. "King David Kalakaua walked here and Queen Liliuokalani."

"I guess I'm entitled, then," Kono said. She showed the man her ID with the Kalakaua name. She had noble blood (much diluted) running through her veins.

"Don't confuse the man," Chin murmured. "Keep it simple. Vinnie, you know you have to obey police officers."

"Yes sir."

"I'm telling you that this is an emergency and you need to let these people come down the stairs. They all have their booties on. They won't hurt the stairs."

Vinnie hesitated. Langston added his pleas to Chin's. "He's telling the truth, Vinnie. They need to come down the stairs, so we can close the museum."

With two recognized authority figures exhorting him, Vinnie surrendered. He moved aside to allow the visitors to leave.

"But don't touch the handrails with your dirty hands," he snapped, salvaging some control out of the situation.

"We'll make sure they don't," Kono said, touching her weapon.

The tourists were not impressed by the mock threat, but Vinnie was appeased. Everyone walked down the broad stairs, sticking to the center, away from the railings.

"You come down, too, Vinnie," Chin urged.

Vinnie took a deep breath as if diving into the ocean and walked down the steps with as light a tread as possible.

"Good man," Langston said, taking charge of his volunteer.

Chin and Kono continued up to clear the floor officially, in case someone was hurt or hiding in a panic. They found a man in the King's Bedroom, one foot stepping over the velvet ropes out of the exhibit area, one hand tucked inside his jacket. The very definition of "red-handed," Kono thought.

Her gun seemed to leap into her hand. "Five-0," she barked. "Hands up!"

The man's left hand shot up, but his right stayed hidden inside his jacket. "Five-who? What's going on?"

"You're on the wrong side of the ropes, friend," Chin said. His gun was also out. He separated himself from Kono, making it more difficult for the suspect to target them if that was a gun in his jacket. "Take your hand out of the jacket, slowly!"

"Uh…"

"Now!" Kono ordered.

"OK, OK, don't shoot!" the fair-haired tourist said in a strong Midwestern accent. He began to withdraw his hand and the officers could see something in it.

"Drop it!"

"Uh, I probably shouldn't. It might break," the man said regretfully. "Just take it easy." He slowly pulled out the object so Chin and Kono could see it was a photograph in a silver frame. Gripping it with two fingers, the subject held it out to the officers.

Without lowering her weapon, Kono edged forward and took the frame. A glance showed a photo of King David Kalakaua shaking hands with a young Teddy Roosevelt.

"Is that any way for a visitor to act? They sell souvenirs in the gift shop, you know," Kono said severely.

The tall man shrugged his broad shoulders. "When everyone ran out, I couldn't resist," he said.

They handcuffed him and searched him, finding his ID and learning his name was Lindquist and he was from Indianapolis. They also found the Queen Liliuokalani's gold and ivory hairbrush and matching hand mirror in his pockets.

"I guess you'll be spending a longer vacation in Hawaii than you thought," Chin commented.

"Yeah, I hear Halawa Prison is lovely this time of year," Kono said sarcastically.

Kono and Chin took their big blond thief down the historic staircase and outside where Langston was waiting to lock up. He had sent Vinnie home and all the tourists had dispersed, though a group was taking photos of the exterior of the home.

Kono tried to use her cellphone to call HPD, but couldn't get through. Cell service was still spotty because of the overload of frantic callers. She had better luck reaching Lori, who was able to relay her call to HPD. But the police were swamped with more critical calls than an art thief. "Can you bring him in?" Sgt. Duke Lukela almost pleaded. Kono agreed.

"Come on, the car's across the street," Chin said, giving the suspect a nudge in the right direction. "We're taking you to HPD."

"OK. Thanks, Lori." Kono giggled when she put her phone away.

"What?"

"Lori said Steve and Danny are on their way to the last place on their list — a fireworks factory!"

Chin chuckled. "I bet Danny loves that!"

* * *

Steve and Danny headed for the final stop on their list, Han Lee Fireworks Inc.

"I can't believe I'm willingly walking into a fireworks factory with you," Danny grumbled. "You and high explosives are never a good idea."

"In the first place, it's not a factory," Steve corrected. "It's a warehouse. No manufacturing, just storage. In the second place, I am entirely comfortable with high explosives…"

"Too comfortable," Danny muttered.

"And in the third place," Steve continued. "Fireworks are not high explosives."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Hello, Steven, police officer." He tapped his own chest. "I know gunpowder and fireworks are not high explosives. You, my friend, fail to grasp the thrill of hyperbole."

"With you as my partner, Danny, hyperbole has become a way of life," Steve retorted.

Danny snorted. The Five-0 duo walked through the heavily reinforced door to hear men yelling and footsteps running, and to see sparks falling from the ceiling like a waterfall.

"It's not hyperbole when it's true!" Danny shouted.

**TBC**

* * *

_A/N: The Iolani Palace is not the "Five-0 building" with the King Kamehameha statue in front. The palace is across the street. The gorgeous and historic koa wood staircase in the Iolani Palace is real. The tiny elevator is real. The booties are real. The docent and the stolen artifacts are products of my fevered imagination._

_Another note: Many people with Down syndrome prefer routine, but all individuals are different. No offense to any Down syndrome readers. _


	4. A Minor Crisis

_A/N: Steve and Danny in a fireworks warehouse. What could possibly go wrong?_

**Chapter 4 — A Minor Crisis**

The tallest Asian man Danny had ever seen (not counting basketball player Yao Ming), apparently the warehouse foreman, was yelling at the scrambling workers in a mix of English and Chinese. He didn't seem overly alarmed about green and silver sparks flying through the air in a fireworks factory.

Looking closer, Danny saw it didn't seem as dangerous as it had at first. Perched on a stacker forklift pallet two McGarrett body lengths overhead, one bundle of a dozen roman candles was going off one candle at a time.

None of the other bundles with it seemed to be affected and the sparks were falling on bare concrete floor. If was almost a pretty display, but the workers were understandably nervous seeing sparks inside a fireworks warehouse. A red and green candle flared up just as the silver and green died down. The workers all flinched. The foreman cursed them — Danny didn't have to speak Chinese to understand that — then turned to the two newcomers.

"Could you come back later, sirs?" he said with rough politeness. "We're having a minor crisis."

"I can see that," Steve said officially. "McGarrett, Five-0." He flashed his badge and the workers began to mutter in alarm. "We're here on a routine post-earthquake check."

Danny eyed the bundle, now spitting blue and gold sparks from the elevated tines of the stacker forklift. "But this doesn't exactly look routine."

Introducing himself as Benjamin Hsieh, the foreman scratched his head. "This was caused more by stupidity than by the earthquake," he said. "Chang was shrink wrapping the bundles of candles when the earthquake struck and he dropped his heat gun on the fireworks. After the earthquake, he said nothing about the incident and finished his work, but the heat gun must have charred a bit of paper and caused a tiny fire that spread. Hwang was lifting up the bundles so they could be stacked with the rest, when it began spouting sparks. He ran away from the lifter and left it as you see. If Hwang would go back to his post," he sent a poisonous glare at one cowering worker. "We could get that bundle down and out of the shop, but he's scared to go back to the lifter."

While he was talking, the workers huddled closer behind him, muttering fearfully in Chinese.

Hsieh swung on them, yelling in Chinese. Danny thought he caught the words "shrink wrap" and "Five-0" and, was that "ice"? He glanced at his partner and saw Steve tense. So, it probably was "ice," or rather, "ICE."

"I think Lori's friend Morrison would be interested in this place," he said casually, referring to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent they'd met recently.

One corner of Steve's mouth lifted in a lopsided grin. "I'd say so." The Navy SEAL barked out a command in Mandarin.

The foreman and all the Chinese workers froze in shock. Steve and Danny smirked.

"Just because he doesn't look Chinese, doesn't mean he doesn't understand it," Danny pointed out.

Steve added something forcefully in Chinese, but no one was listening. The undocumented immigrants scattered, more afraid of cops than the fireworks or the foreman.

Steve was yelling that they weren't ICE and they didn't care about illegal workers, but in their panic, no one was listening. The workers scattered to hide among the stacks of fireworks, hoping to find a side door that wasn't locked. Hsieh, who would face the stiffest penalties, made a run for the main entrance. Steve pursued. Twice the size of his workers, the foreman plowed through the fleeing crowd, throwing a man at Steve to slow him down. Steve ducked his shoulder. The stumbling worker bounced off the commander and crashed into the forklift. The jostling made the Roman candle bundle rotate, until the sparks were aimed at the other bundles.

In all the excitement, no one noticed, not even Danny and he had the Roman candles on his mind. With workers running all around him, Danny kept his eye on one prize. He lunged and caught one particular man by his collar. "Stop right there, Hwang. You're going to move that forklift for us."

Danny thought Hwang understood English, though he only answered in Chinese. Or maybe the man only understood the word "forklift." Hwang pointed up.

"Oh shit!" Danny exclaimed.

* * *

Almost at the door, Hsieh grabbed a broom and threw it backwards. Steve caught it, reversed it and threw it like a javelin. The long wooden handle went between Hsieh's legs. The foreman tripped and landed hard on one knee, crying out in pain. Steve pounced on him, cuffed his hands behind him and hauled Hsieh to his feet. As they stood, they looked up and echoed Danny's exclamation in two different languages.

Before the four watchers could take another step, the other five Roman candle bundles burst into flame all at once. Fireworks blazing, parcels shot in all directions like, well, rockets.

Steve threw Hsieh to the ground again as one bundle zoomed over their heads and out the door, plowing across the gravel parking lot and fetching up against a block wall.

The original sputtering bundle nosedived at Danny's feet and he kicked it into a safe corner. One blazing package caught on the top of one of the stacker forklift's towers and spun like a pinwheel, showering Danny and Hwang with sparks. The men threw up their arms to protect their heads and dodged away.

Two bundles shot into the stacked pallets of consumer fireworks, trapping some of the fleeing workers. A man screamed as his sleeve caught fire. Steve abandoned his prisoner. Armed with the broom, he knocked the roman candles away from the stored fireworks, then beat out the flames on the whimpering worker's arm.

The final Roman candle bundle shot high in the air to lodge against the ceiling framework. It began to rain sparks on the professional fireworks stacked below.

Suddenly everything became a hundred times more dangerous. Made for amateur use, an exploding Roman candle might take a hand off, but the professional mortar shells could blow up the entire building!

"We've got to get out!" the foreman yelled. He struggled to rise, but he couldn't bend his swollen knee, so he couldn't stand without the use of his hands.

Steve and Danny could run for it, but there were twenty workers scattered around the building. They'd never be able to persuade them to come out of hiding in time.

Steve climbed the stack of fireworks boxes in two bounds but could see no way up to the source of the danger. The Roman candles were high and many sparks winked out before they landed on the professional fireworks below. Maybe it wasn't as dangerous as it looked at first, he thought hopefully, as he leaped to the next pile of plastic wrapped mortar shells.

* * *

No, it was worse.

Steve owed Danny an apology. The warehouse was (illegally) a factory. Half the shells Steve could see had fuses inserted, when they shouldn't be assembled until at the show site.

As Steve watched, a corner of paper burst into a tiny flame, like a cigarette lighter, and a shell fuse began to spark.

**TBC**

_Oops, another cliffhanger! More fireworks next time. Literally._


	5. Burn, Baby, Burn

**Chapter 5 – Burn, Baby, Burn**

_**Steve owed Danny an apology. The warehouse was (illegally) a factory. Half the shells Steve could see had fuses inserted, when they shouldn't be assembled until at the show site. **_

_**As Steve watched, a corner of paper burst into a tiny flame, like a cigarette lighter, and a shell fuse began to spark.**_

* * *

With a cry that mixed fury with fear, Steve leaped headlong, disappearing from Danny's view and smothering the flame with his body. He snatched a knife from his pocket and cut the fuse, throwing it off the pallet pile.

Danny saw the fuse fall, still spitting sparks. He stamped it out, swearing, then shouted, "Steve!"

"I've got it covered for now!" his partner yelled back. His body literally covered all the fuses he could see, protecting them from the falling sparks. He covered his head and neck with his arms, but still felt pricks of pain as the embers drifted down. "But hurry! It's getting warm up here!"

Danny's eyes swept the factory. All the bundles were still merrily spitting sparks, but the only ones in dangerous positions were the one above Steve and the one on top of the forklift post.

Danny turned back and saw the forklift driver fleeing as fast as he could. Cursing, Danny yelled at the foreman, "How long do these things last?"

They had chambers that fired off one by one to keep the fireworks alive, but Hsieh didn't bother to explain. "Four minutes! Guaranteed four minutes!" he yelled back.

Four minutes seemed an eternity. As Danny ran for the forklift platform, he caught a glimpse of the roman candles' name, "Burn, Baby, Burn!"

"Not today!" the detective told it defiantly.

He grabbed up the broom and, ignoring the sparks that fell around him, he hit the bundle off the post as if it was a piñata, then used his best slap shot to knock it into the safe corner of the warehouse with the other candles.

"Goal!" Danny muttered, then shouted, "Hang on, Steve!"

Danny leaped onto the forklift platform and drove forward, lowering the prongs to slot into the pallet's base. He'd only worked on the tractor-like forklifts. This was a stacker, with a platform to stand on and two tall towers that could lift loads to high shelves, but the controls weren't so different. The machine lurched forward.

"Thank you, Uncle Phil," he muttered. He'd spent two summers driving forklifts and shifting boxes at his uncle's shipping warehouse. He hadn't lost the knack.

Steve felt the world shift. Another damned aftershock? Then with a jolt, the pallet began to move away from the shower of sparks. OK, earthquakes didn't move like that. He risked a peek out from under his protecting arms and saw Danny backing the forklift away from the glittering rain, which now fell harmlessly on the concrete floor.

Clear of the falling sparks, Steve sat up on his moving magic carpet.

"Is that a bottle of water, Danny?"

The detective plucked the almost full plastic bottle out of a makeshift cup holder.

"You thirsty?" Danny asked, as he tossed it to his friend.

Steve caught it easily, uncapped it and dribbled water on every charred spot until he was pretty sure nothing was going to catch fire. Then he splashed the rest of the water on the back of his neck and arms.

By then, Danny had placed the pallet well away from any other fireworks, just in case a thermal reaction was gaining speed somewhere deep in the black powder.

While Steve climbed down, Danny studied his friend's back. "Your shirt has leopard spots and your neck looks like you crashed a mosquito convention."

Steve examined his red-spotted arms.

"Or maybe you're coming down with the measles," Danny suggested.

Which was pretty much what it looked like, Steve had to admit.

"They're just little first degree burns," the Navy SEAL said.

"Itty bitty sunburns?"

"You could say that," Steve agreed. "I just need a little sunburn lotion and they'll be fine."

"It's a good thing you weren't closer to those Roman candles," Danny said soberly. "Or you'd have been barbecued."

* * *

HPD was swamped. The earthquake had caused a variety of accidents, encouraged looters by breaking shop windows and created general havoc. When Chin and Kono escorted their artifact thief into the squad room, officers were leading two battered men into holding.

"I told you that tree was top heavy," ranted a man with a split lip and a torn shirt.

"I didn't knock it over, the earthquake did!" the man with the black eye yelled.

"It wouldn't have fallen if you'd trimmed it!"

The Five-0 duo set Lindquist out of the way and waited for their turn at booking.

Sgt. Duke Lukela felt like he was back directing traffic, sending men here and there, trying to answer phones where all the lights were flashing. When everything was momentarily sorted, he dropped wearily into a chair beside Chin and mopped his face with the back of his hand.

"Crazy day," Kono said sympathetically.

"You don't know the half of it. We don't know the half of it. Our switchboard is overwhelmed. People are telling us they've been calling for an hour."

"Why don't you hook into the Five-0 board," Chin suggested. "Lori's at headquarters. She can help you coordinate."

Duke looked as if Chin had offered him cool lemonade after a long day at the beach.

"Would you do that? Could you do that?" he begged.

"No problem, brah," Chin said. "If we can book our suspect."

Duke was willing to trade. Lori was willing to help.

After the emergency generator kicked in. Lori called the governor, getting Five-0's request for repairs in before the rest of the government offices did. Then all she could do was stand guard and answer the infrequent calls from her teammates.

Answering HPD's calls would give her something to do. She hated feeling useless.

* * *

Having made Lori happy and Duke ecstatic, Chin and Kono walked out of HPD into the parking garage where Kono's little red Cruze waited.

They met up with an officer helping a suspect out of the back of a police car. Handcuffed behind his back, the long-limbed, gangling youth made a sharp contrast with the hefty Hawaiian officer. The round-faced, heavily built officer was well known to Chin and Kono, because he was one of their many cousins on the police force.

"Aloha, Art, what you got, brah?" Chin greeted his relative.

"Aloha, Chin, I mean, lieutenant," Art answered, trying to remain professional in front of the suspect. "Aloha, Officer Kalakaua."

"Officer Arakawa," Kono answered with a nod, matching her cousin's formality.

"This is just a looter, snatch and grab artist. Fast bugger. I'd've never caught him if he hadn't run into a couple of good citizens who grabbed him for me."

"You'd have never caught me if it hadn't been for those haoles," the kid said scornfully.

"You'd've been caught eventually," Art answered placidly. "You ain't as smart as you think you are."

The youth answered back insolently, but Art ignored his sass and towed him toward the HPD entrance by the scruff of his neck.

As Chin and Kono reached her car, an aftershock struck. The first sharp jolt threw Chin into the side of the Cruze and made Kono grab for the car's wing mirror.

Officer Arakawa stumbled, but his suspect kept his feet with the grace of an athlete. The looter planted his skinny shoulder in the officer's substantial gut and shoved. Art fell headlong, cracking his head on a concrete pillar.

The Five-0 pair yelled "Stop!" in unison, but the suspect didn't. (They never did. Danny could have told them that.)

The athletic perp jumped and tucked, swinging his cuffed hands forward as if he was jumping rope backwards. With his hands now in front, he thumbed his nose at the Five-0 officers who were just getting their footing back. The youth leaped into the driver's seat of Art's patrol car and pealed out.

**TBC**


	6. Catch Me If You Can

**Chapter 6 — Catch Me If You Can**

Chin started to run to the injured officer, but reversed course when Art sat up, cursing and waving them after the suspect.

Kono already had the Cruze started. Hardly pausing for Chin to tumble in, she roared after the blue and white.

Chin clicked his seatbelt into place just in time to keep his head from cracking against the roof when the Cruze vaulted over a speed bump. The small car bucked a moment, then Kono's firm hand sent it roaring after the patrol car, sirens blaring and lights flashing on both cars.

Chin grabbed the radio and reported the oddity — a small red Chevy in pursuit of a police car. Lori fielded the call on behalf of the dispatcher, but their teammate couldn't offer any assistance. Everyone was swamped and new emergency calls were coming in following the aftershock.

"Never mind, we'll handle it," Kono said confidently.

Lori back at Five-0 and Chin in the passenger seat rolled their eyes in unison and said, also in sync, "You've been hanging around McGarrett too long!"

Kono just laughed and shoved harder on the accelerator. The Cruze leaped like a scalded rabbit.

"Hang on, Chin," Lori said, then had to move to her next caller.

* * *

The young looter was a reckless driver, but not especially skilled. The patrol car drifted wide at each turn, letting Kono and her nimble Cruze narrow the gap.

The youth looked over his shoulder at the closing Cruze. As he turned, the light ahead of him turned red and an oblivious driver started across the intersection. Music blaring, the teen motorist didn't hear the approaching sirens but when he looked left, he saw the police car almost upon him. In a panic, he hit the brakes.

The looter looked forward again and found a roadblock just ahead. He yanked the steering wheel left. The car skidded, rear fender kissing the front fender of the teen driver's car with a grinding metallic screech.

The patrol car fishtailed. The looter overcorrected and shot up on the sidewalk. Pedestrians scattered as he plowed down a postcard display and sent a newspaper dispenser flying. When he finally jinked back into the street, Kono was right behind him.

The patrol car shot around a corner and plowed into a lake in the middle of the road. The aftershock had cracked a water line, sending a fountain high into the air and filling the street from curb to curb.

The patrol car hydroplaned, spinning like a top with spray flying everywhere. It slid sideways into a parked car. The looter leaped out, splashed over to the curb and fled along the drier sidewalk, then cut right between buildings.

Kono charged through the pond, sending waves of water to either side. She stopped just clear of the water and Chin sprang out. "Cut him off," he yelled unnecessarily.

Kono roared away, racing two blocks — past a one-way street — until she could make a right turn.

Chin learned Art was right, the looter could run! Fortunately, he'd banged his knee in the crash, so he couldn't reach his full speed. Chin reached out and caught the youth's shirt. The looter stumbled and fell, but did a graceful shoulder roll like a break-dancer and sprang away at right angles. Chin lost a little ground when he was forced to change direction.

The athletic youth ran through a neighborhood. "Brah, cops!" he shouted, pointing back at Chin.

A big man lumbered off of a porch, muscles bulging like a weight lifter. "Leave the little dude alone," he commanded.

"Not gonna happen, brah," Chin answered, slowing warily. "He attacked a cop and stole a police car."

The big Hawaiian laughed. "Makes him good in my book." His big paws snatched at Chin, but the lieutenant wasn't there. He dropped with a scything leg kick that would have decked most people. With this guy, though, it was like kicking a lamppost. The big man only dropped to one knee with a grunt of displeasure. His massive hand latched onto the Chin's ankle. Chin lashed out with his other foot, catching his attacker in the face. The Hawaiian sat back, blood streaming from a broken nose.

"Now you're makin' me mad!" he growled.

He lunged and caught Chin in a bear hug and head-butted him. Chin clapped his hands over the man's ears — making the big man scream — then brought his elbow up sharply under the jaw — once, twice, three times — until the man released him and staggered back. Chin leaped in a roundhouse kick to the head. The big man dropped, groaning.

Chin rolled him to his belly and cuffed him. "You should have stayed out of it, brah," the lieutenant advised, wiping blood from his split lip.

Chin looked down the street, figuring he'd lost his suspect. At the end of the block, sunlight flashed on a little red Chevy.

Chin grinned.

* * *

The young looter fled, laughing. He hardly knew the big Hawaiian, but he knew the man hated cops. Looking ahead, he saw a red car jolt to a stop and the skinny girl cop got out.

The youth laughed again and lowered his shoulder, like a football player trying to break past a defender. The slender woman held her ground until the last minute, then stepped aside, hooked his ankle with hers even as she caught him by the back of his collar. Kicking up as she pulled down, she slammed the escaping thief onto his back.

He tried to break his fall and only succeeded in breaking his wrist with an audible crack. Breathing in a wheezing whine, the youth lay on the ground, cradling his wrist.

Chin trotted up to them and looked down. "You thought she was the easy one, didn't you?"

"I almost let him get past me so I could just shoot him," Kono said.

"I've got to keep you away from Steve," Chin said with disapproval. "You know a shooting takes twice the paperwork as an arrest."

"Yeah, but then it's done. No bookings, no questioning, no court appearances."

Chin hauled the looter to his feet. The suspect cradled his broken wrist.

"But now look," Chin argued. "Now we have to take him to the hospital. More paperwork! Change of plans," the lieutenant told the suspect. "You should have settled for HPD. Now we'll be going to Honolulu General instead."

**TBC**


	7. Wrong Place, Wrong Time

_A/N: I promise some Steve and Danny this time._

**Chapter 7 — Wrong Place, Wrong Time**

When Chin and Kono reached the hospital, the lobby was in an uproar that didn't seem to have anything to do with an influx of earthquake victims. A crowd of staff members and avid bystanders were clustered around an arguing trio of familiar faces.

In the last two weeks, Five-0 had been called in on a case of theft from hospital pharmacies. Two hospitals and three nursing homes had been hit. The pills had been replaced with lookalikes, so the thefts hadn't been discovered until patients complained that the meds weren't working. The case was transferred to Five-0 when two patients in a nursing home — one a former state supreme court judge — died after their heart medicine was replaced with pills made of sugar and sawdust. In addition to re-interviewing the staffs at the institutions that had been hit, Five-0 had checked out other medical facilities on the island, including Honolulu General.

Everyone's attention was on the argument, so no one saw the Five-0 officers approaching.

"This is a hospital! We need to try to save him!" exclaimed a short, thin Asian man in a business suit. He was Tom Watanabe, head of Procurement, the man who kept the hospital supplied with everything from mops to pharmaceuticals.

A tall, dark-haired man in doctor's whites snorted. "I examined him. His head is crushed. There's nothing we can do for him." He was Dr. Trevor Kaylor, chief of Medical Services, manager of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and all. He was not a polite man, but he was an excellent organizer and a respected physician.

"We can't just leave him there!" cried a woman in skirt and blazer. She was Kaitlyn Binnix, the Assistant Facilities Manager, who helped oversee building maintenance.

"We have to," the doctor said bluntly.

"We need to report it," said voice from the audience. Paramedic Margie Chandler stepped forward. "It's a suspicious death."

"It's an accidental death!" protested a man dressed as a janitor. "It was the earthquake."

"Even so, it needs to be reported," Margie said firmly.

Chin and Kono exchanged a glance. "What's going on here?" Chin demanded in his best cop voice.

The group turned en masse to see the police officers escorting their subdued prisoner.

"It's Five-0," Margie said in relief. "Chin, Ab and I just found Roland Pham dead around back in the loading dock. Ab's watching the body."

"Pham? We were just talking to him last week about the pharmacy thefts," Kono said. Pham was the Facilities Manager, Binnix's superior.

"It looks like an accident," Margie said. "A brick wall gave way on the third floor patio and fell on the loading dock. It looks like Mr. Pham was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"But it still needs to be treated like a suspicious death," Kono finished, nodding.

"But he knew better than to go outside during an earthquake," Binnix protested. "He knew it's the most dangerous place to be."

"But it was part of his job to check for damage after an earthquake," Kaylor pointed out with rough sympathy. "If he was already out there when the latest aftershock hit …"

"Wrong place, wrong time," Margie said again.

"All right. We'll check it out after we log our prisoner into the jail wing," Chin said.

"I'll call Max Bergman," Kono said, pulling out her phone.

She spoke to the medical examiner's office, then to Duke Lukela, while Chin was booking Lindquist. Duke was glad to let Five-0 take lead on the investigation. The quake had doubled HPD's caseload and the hospital death might be related to the drug theft investigation.

"It doesn't seem likely," Kono told him.

"But it's possible," the sergeant responded.

As Chin and Kono headed toward the accident scene, she asked her cousin, "Do you think this has anything to do with our case?"

"Not on the surface," Chin said. "But stranger things have happened."

Kono snorted in a most unladylike fashion. "This is Five-0. 'Stranger' is all in a day's work."

* * *

Having finally finished their checklist — the hard way, Danny said, rubbing at a trio of spark burns on his hand — the partners headed back toward HQ.

The dangerous labs on their damage assessment list were located away from the city, so there wasn't much traffic here.

Danny grabbed the safety bar. "Whoa? Is that a flat tire?"

Steve slowed cautiously, then pulled to the side of the road. The odd lurching feeling continued.

"Must be another aftershock, a big one," Steve said. He turned on the radio and, sure enough, reports were pouring in from various parts of Oahu.

Danny peered around the Silverado anxiously, but nothing seemed ready to fall on the truck. "What do you think," he asked, feigning casualness. "A 4.5?"

"You're beginning to sound like an old pro," Steve said in approval. "I think it's finished. We'd better get back to town."

Steve hurried along the empty streets while Danny gazed at the hills.

"Whoa! Wait, Steve!"

The commander hit the brakes. "What?"

"Back up," Danny commanded. "I thought I saw something up that side street."

The Silverado zipped backwards until the two men could look up the street. The road ran uphill and around a curve. A maroon SUV was stopped along the curve and Steve instantly saw what had caught Danny's quick eye. The SUV was badly tilted with the front passenger wheel hanging off the edge of the cliff. Broken sections of metal guardrail had caught the side and front of the vehicle, but even as the men watched, a little more dirt fell away and the SUV shifted toward the drop off.

Steve spun the wheel and charged up the side road. As they came around the corner, they saw the driver hadn't run off the road, the road had collapsed beneath her wheels. The earthquake had caused a landslide that carried away a chunk of the guardrail and undermined the road, but left the pavement intact. When the woman drove across what seemed to be normal pavement, it buckled beneath her tire, sending the SUV swerving toward the drop off.

She had stopped in time, but the SUV was steeply tilted, so she couldn't get out. All she could do was hang there, looking down at the broken piece of guardrail which had landed, jagged end up, pointing at the SUV. Airbags weren't going to do any good if the SUV dropped. The metal railing would spike through the windshield like a spear.

Steve and Danny approached the SUV cautiously, testing the ground, worried their weight would cause further slippage.

"Take it easy, ma'am," Steve called.

The woman driver was hanging from the seat restraints, trying to reach her cellphone, which had fallen to the floor, and trying not to rock the SUV. She hadn't heard them coming over the blood pounding in her skull. At Steve's words, her head jerked up and the whole SUV shivered at the movement.

"Easy," Danny said soothingly. "Easy, we're Five-0. We'll get you out."

"I'm going to ease the door open," Steve said. "Then we'll get you out of there."

"No!"

"It's OK. All you have to do is grab my hand and unfasten your seatbelt," Steve said.

"No," she said again. She didn't sound panicky; she sounded stubborn and pointed at the backseat. "My baby!"

* * *

**TBC**


	8. Cliffhanger

**Chapter 8 — Cliffhanger**

Danny cupped his hands around his eyes and peered through the dark tinted rear windows. Fastened in a car seat in the teetering SUV was the cutest little Gerber baby with rosy round cheeks and a wisp of brown hair curling from his forehead. The infant was properly fastened in a backwards-facing car seat in the second row of the huge vehicle on the passenger side so his mother could keep an eye on him — which meant the baby was on the side of the car already protruding over the cliff.

None of this bothered the baby. Leaning backwards was quite comfortable. He clapped and flailed cheerfully, enjoying the way the car rocked.

"Shit!" Danny scrambled around the back of the SUV, but there was no footing on the passenger side.

"I have to climb in to get the kid," Danny told Steve.

"Why you?" Steve said instantly. He was the commander. He'd take the risks.

Danny eyed him impatiently. "First, because I weigh less than you do. Second, because I have experience taking babies out of car seats."

Danny was shorter than Steve, but muscular, so he didn't weigh THAT much less than the SEAL, but he had a point about the car seat. The commander reluctantly accepted that Danny was the best man for the job.

"Let me tie off the SUV first," Steve said. "That'll help stabilize it."

There were no trees on the slope. Nothing to tie the SUV to, but Steve jumped in his truck and guided it behind the SUV, facing away from it; then he roped together the vehicles' tow hitches.

Danny looked at the heavy, eight-passenger SUV. "Your truck doesn't have enough power to hold it. If the SUV goes off the cliff, it will pull the Silverado with it."

"It can slow it down," Steve answered.

He got a hunting knife from his pack and unsheathed it. The long blade was serrated and wickedly sharp. He laid the unsheathed knife on the ground midway between the vehicles.

OK, now Danny knew why Steve had tied the vehicles together with rope instead of his tow chain.

Steve climbed in the driver's seat and started his truck, but didn't release the parking brake.

"OK, Danny, go ahead."

"Babe…"

"If you go, I go," Steve said with determination. "Now, save that baby!"

It was Danny's nature to argue, but not when a child's life was at stake. He carefully opened the driver's door of the SUV and held out his hand to the woman.

"You get out first."

"But …"

"No buts," Danny said firmly. "My partner has stabilized the SUV so we can risk moving you and, right now, the less weight up front the better."

The woman nodded understanding.

Danny carefully put his hands under the arms, keeping her from falling when she released her seatbelt. Trying to not touch the SUV at all, Danny maneuvered her out of the vehicle and set her safely on solid ground.

"Jesse?" she begged.

"He's next. Keep an eye on the cliff for us," Danny said, mostly to give the woman something to focus on.

Danny took a deep breath and slid open the side door. The latch required a sharp jerk, which made the SUV rock. It began to slip sideways toward the cliff, dragging the Silverado with it. Danny heard the pickup's engine roar and felt the towline tighten, signaling the start of a deadly game of tug-of-war.

* * *

In the Five-0 office, Lori Weston was helping the HPD dispatcher coordinate and prioritize the many calls for help after the series of aftershocks. She basically doubled the capacity of the HPD switchboard.

She decided she felt like Lt. Uhura in Star Trek, surrounded by high-tech equipment and answering the phone. She'd have to tell Max. The man who had "WARP 9" for a license plate would appreciate the reference.

When a call came in on the Five-0 line from a familiar caller, she answered, "Hailing frequencies open, commander."

To be honest, Steve only registered her voice, not her words.

"Send HPD and a road crew to this location. The road is collapsing and we're trying to stop an SUV from going over a cliff."

Lori's hands were dancing over the smart table, identifying Steve's location. Behind the commander's strained voice, she heard the Silverado's engine roar, taking on a deeper, more urgent note.

"Where's Danny?" she asked, without pausing in her work.

"In the damn SUV!"

"What? Why?"

"Because he knows how to get a baby out of a car seat!"

Lori cursed and her fingers flew faster. The location came up and she dispatched help immediately. "Help's on the way!" she shouted to Steve, but she didn't think he could hear her. His phone had clattered to the floor and all Lori could hear was a screaming engine and squealing tires.

* * *

Danny didn't dare hurry, which might jostle the SUV's precarious balance. He moved smoothly as quickly as he dared.

"My name's Danny," the detective told the woman in order to distract himself from the drop off that was right in front of his eyes as he crawled toward the baby. "My partner in the truck is Steve."

"Megan Wiggs," the woman answered.

"And this is Jesse," Danny cooed at the happy baby. The man braced his legs in the slanted SUV so he could use both hands to free the baby. "Hi, Jesse." The baby clapped at hearing his name.

"You must have a big family," Danny said to Megan, with a flicker of a glance around the huge vehicle.

"Four children, including Jesse, and a dog the size of a pony," she answered, forcing the joke past the knot in her throat.

Danny chuckled as he unbuckled the straps and lifted them away from the small body.

"Do you have kids?" Megan asked. "Since you know car seats?"

"I have a daughter, Grace. She's 10 now, but I remember the frustrations of car seats." He wrinkled his nose at the baby who laughed. Danny put his hands on either side of Jesse and lifted him from the seat.

"I … oh God! Cracks! The ground is cracking!" the woman cried.

The SUV lurched. Danny lost his balance and tumbled headfirst toward the car seat. He clutched Jesse close, rolling to land on his back instead of the baby. His shoulder and head slammed hard against the hard plastic car seat. The SUV was sliding sideways toward the cliff and Danny was head down on his back, kicking like an overturned turtle to get his balance back.

The mother's screams were drowned by the roar of the Silverado as Steve dropped his phone and jammed on the gas pedal, trying to pull his partner to safety. But the fractured ground was collapsing beneath the SUV and the weight was dragging the pickup backwards like a drowning swimmer pulling his rescuer under.

All Danny could think of what Steve said. He hoped they weren't his partner's last words: "If you go, I go."

**TBC**

* * *

_A/N: Look, a cliffhanger with a real cliff!_


	9. More Fun Than a Barrel of Fireworks

**Chapter 9 — More fun than a barrel of fireworks**

Danny's flailing hand caught the back of the driver's seat. He wrenched himself up and, getting his feet under him, dragged himself and the baby up the steeply sloping seat. He launched himself out the SUV door.

Curling around the baby, Danny landed with a thump on his unbruised shoulder and rolled clear of the SUV. The woman clawed him to his feet and pulled him farther from the collapsing cliff.

But Steve wasn't clear. He had his foot jammed on the Silverado's accelerator. If he let up, he'd be pulled over the cliff before he could jump to safety.

Danny shoved the baby into his mother's arms and sprinted toward the knife, half-hidden in the smoke pouring from the Silverado's spinning tires.

Danny snatched up the knife and slashed at the straining towrope. Thank God for Navy SEALs who maintain their weapons obsessively. The razor-like serrated blade cut three-quarters of the way through the rope and the rest snapped, smacking Danny's shin as it whipped past.

The SUV plunged over the cliff with a horrific cacophony of crashing metal and smashing glass that — finally — frightened the baby.

The released Silverado zoomed forward, fishtailing wildly until Steve got it under control and braked.

With a woof of relief, Danny collapsed on his back on the dirty asphalt of the remaining half of the road. The wail of a crying baby was sweet music to the father in him.

Steve checked the mother and child, then ran to his partner who was just lying there, breathing — happy to be breathing. Steve knelt beside his friend.

"Nice knife." Danny pushed the blade back to its owner.

"Nice save," Steve answered.

A siren approached, heralding an HPD patrol car and a Public Works road crew. Danny tipped his head up, then let it fall back. "Where'd they come from?"

"I called Lori," Steve said casually. "Only needed one hand to drive the truck."

Steve and the Works crew walked gingerly toward the cliff edge. Looking down at the SUV, they saw the metal railing pierced the driver's side and exited through a passenger side window.

"Lucky no one was in the car," one of the workers commented.

"Yeah, lucky," Steve said flatly.

"Danny, you're bleeding," Megan said to the man still catching his breath on the ground.

Danny waved away her concern. "It's just a rope burn," he said, touching his shin.

"No, I meant your side," the woman said.

Steve saw that the cut in Danny's armpit had reopened. Danny sat up, grimaced and rubbed his shoulder, then rubbed his other shoulder.

Steve gave him a look.

"What?" Danny protested. "I banged my right shoulder when the SUV tipped and my left shoulder when I jumped out of the car. They're just bruises."

"Why don't we let a doctor decide that?" Steve said. It wasn't really a question.

Danny started to protest again, but was interrupted by Steve's satellite phone. "Yeah, Chin. Really? Honolulu General? OK, Danny and I are on the way." He hung up, then offered a hand to help his partner to his feet. "Looks like you're going to the hospital whether you want to or not. Chin and Kono have a body."

"This officer can take you home," Steve told Megan "Or do you want us to give you a ride to the hospital?"

Cradling her baby, the woman hesitated when she looked at the pickup.

"What?"

"I can't. It's illegal to take a baby in a car without a car seat."

Danny leaned against the Silverado and laughed.

* * *

Margie Chandler led Chin and Kono out to the loading dock where Paramedic Ab Riley waited patiently, sitting on the bumper of his ambulance, blocking the loading dock and keeping an eye on the body. When he saw the Five-0 pair coming, he whistled.

"The big guns! Think this is related to the drug thefts?'

"No!" Chin and Kono said together emphatically.

Riley was taken aback. "Are you sure?"

"No!" the cousins said just as vehemently.

"Okaaayyyy."

Chin and Kono shook hands with their paramedic friend, then donned latex gloves and began to prowl around the accident scene. They didn't want to touch anything until Max arrived. A pudgy Asian man lay amid a shower of bricks and mortar, the bright red blood from his shattered skull contrasted dreadfully with the red and white dust scattered all around. Above the loading dock was a small patio that connected to the cafeteria where all the Five-0 officers had spent some time. The officers could see the tips of shade umbrellas beyond a ragged brick wall.

"How'd you get the honor of finding the body?" Kono asked Riley.

"The emergency entrance was jammed," Riley answered. "I dropped Margie and the patient off and then pulled around here to get out of the way. And found the poor guy. I knew right off I couldn't do anything for him, so I called Margie and she told Admin. Then they came traipsing out here to see if it was true, and then they want back arguing about what to do. I guess we should have called it in ourselves, but that didn't seem politic. So I've just been sitting her praying for Mr. Pham and his killer."

That was Riley, a religious man in the best sense of the word.

"Did you know him?" Chin asked.

"By sight. He was the facilities manager. Kept the building clean and in repair. Nothing to do with those of us who come and go." Riley looked past his friends. "Chin, when you get a minute, can you talk to Mr. Stainten? He needs to get back to his hardware store."

Riley pointed at truck marked "Stainten Hardware" that was parked at the loading dock. The green panel truck stood out among the white hospital vehicles and two paint- and cement-spattered black pickup trucks.

A gray-haired man climbed out of the driver's seat of the green truck when he saw Riley pointing his way. Two other men left the vehicle as well.

"I'm doing your job for you," Riley said. "Sort of," he amended. He offered introductions. "Chin, this is Joe Stainten. He owns a little hardware store in Punchbowl. He and his friends came out to their trucks just after I got here."

"I'm Arnie Innis," said the shortest of the three men, a stocky, powerful looking man with dark hair. He wore coveralls, spattered with pale green paint. "This is my assistant, Darrell Dugan."

Dugan was the tallest of the trio with light brown hair, a rangy build and muscular arms. He had raggedly cut off the sleeves of his coverall to free his broad shoulders. Like Innis, he was spattered with paint.

"We're making repairs up in the cafeteria," Innis said, pointing up at the patio. "Joe brought us some more paint. We were coming down to get it when the second earthquake hit."

Joe shivered and looked nervously at the ragged brick wall above. "I was afraid we'd be trapped, but now I'm glad we were in there. If we'd been at the trucks, we might have been hit by the bricks."

Chin could see that some of the brickwork had fallen behind the black trucks. There were even a couple of bricks in the back of the nearest pickup.

"Close one," Chin said sympathetically.

* * *

The questioning was interrupted when the medical examiner's van arrived followed closely by the Silverado.

"What happened to you two?" Riley exclaimed when he saw the burn-spotted commander and the blood-streaked detective. Kono exclaimed and hurried to check out her friends.

"We've been having more fun than a barrel of fireworks," Danny answered sarcastically. He described Steve throwing himself on the fireworks to protect them from the shower of sparks, while Riley inspected the burns.

"They just need sunburn cream," Steve said dismissively. Surprisingly, Riley agreed. Chandler went to get it while Riley turned his attention to Danny.

It was Steve's turn to tell about his partner's mishaps, first with the shattered glass and then with the SUV on the cliff.

"He looked like an acrobat," Steve said. He'd seen it all in the rear view mirror. "An acrobat holding a baby!"

"They're always showing us up, Chin," Kono complained with a humorous pout. "All we have to talk about is a car chase and an art thief."

"I'd rather be overlooked than take all the battle damage those two do," Chin offered, touching the scab on his lip. "I like my pretty face just the way it is."

"You have a point," Kono admitted. She had come through her battle unscathed and was proud of it.

"You reopened this cut with all that jumping around," Riley judged, looking at Danny's side. "But it's already closing up again." Riley taped a dressing over it, then checked Danny's other wounds. The cut in Danny's arm was fine, but new gash on his leg was seeping blood. The rope burn was half-an-inch wide but shallow. Riley cleaned it carefully and wrapped a bandage around the shin.

"Thanks," Danny said. "I don't know how long we'd have to wait if we went to the emergency room."

"Quite a while," Margie answered. "They're swamped. Two fear-induced heart attacks, lots of injuries from falls and flying glass."

Innis cleared his throat apologetically. "Speaking of waiting," he hinted.

Chin apologized immediately.

"No, it was fascinating," Innis said. "I've heard stories about McGarrett and Williams. I thought they were exaggerated, but apparently not."

Steve looked sharply at the painter, but he didn't seem to be sarcastic.

**TBC**

_A/N: Can't have fireworks or a cliff every time._


	10. Highly Unlikely Scenario

_A/N: Late post but it's still Tuesday here._

**Chapter 10 — Highly Unlikely Scenario**

Chin summarized what Stainten and Innis had told him so far.

"Did you know the victim?" Steve asked.

Innis nodded. "Mr. Pham was facilities manager," he pointed out. "We've done work for him before. We were talking to him a couple of hours ago, before the first quake. He didn't like this shade of green that we were painting the cafeteria." He gestured to the splatters on his clothes. "He wanted something more 'sea foam.' A little more blue."

"That must have been annoying," Danny commented.

Dugan shrugged. "Not really. We had to put a second coat on anyway. This moss green would do as an undercoat, so it wouldn't take us any more time and the hospital was paying for the paint."

Innis took up the story. "But we didn't have any sea foam, so we called Joe to bring some. We were taking the leftover moss green down to the trucks when the aftershock hit."

"And then we came out and there were bricks all over and this guy lying there dead," Joe said with a shudder.

"I saw them come out with their paint buckets," Riley volunteered, confirming their story.

* * *

Steve nodded thanks to the painters, then went to Max Bergman who was studying the body. "What do you think, Max?"

"At first appearance, the injuries appear consistent with an accident," the round-faced, Asian doctor announced. "I will know more after I perform the autopsy, of course."

"Of course," Danny agreed. With his gloved hands, he picked up a brick, actually three bricks still mortared together in a pyramidal shape. Blood coated one corner. "Cause of death?" he asked.

It was a rhetorical question, but everyone nodded anyway.

* * *

Steve went back to the painters. "Anything else you can tell us?"

"Just that Pham was kind of cranky when he came to inspect our work," Dugan said. "He'd been arguing with someone. A tall guy. I don't know his name but he wears doctor's whites even though I think he's in admin."

"Sounds like Dr. Kaylor," Kono said from where she was collecting a sample of brick dust from the victim's shoe.

"That sounds right," Dugan agreed.

"Any idea what they were arguing about?" Danny asked.

Dugan just shrugged. "I couldn't hear what they were saying, just the raised voices, you know?"

"Can I go now, please?" Stainten asked plaintively. "I never even saw the guy until he was dead." Again, he looked nervously up at the patio, as if the rest of the wall might tumble down. Which it might if there was another aftershock, Danny thought, edging away from the drop zone himself.

Kono had taken down the contact information for Stainten, Innis and Dugan. Steve decided he had no cause to keep them. Riley confirmed they'd come out after he'd found the body.

"OK, you can go, as soon as we load the body," he told Stainten, because the medical examiner's van and Ab's ambulance were blocking the exit. "If you think of anything else, let us know," Steve said, handing out a business card to each man.

* * *

While they'd been talking, Chin had been taking photos from all angles. He was finished with the body, so Max and his assistants loaded the corpse and drove off. Riley pulled the ambulance aside to let Stainten leave and the painters went back upstairs to finish their work.

* * *

Steve and Danny went to talk to Kaylor.

"We heard you were arguing with the dead man earlier today," Danny said boldly, the moment they barged into Kaylor's office. The administrator and Mr. Watanabe were in a heated discussion.

The doctor looked at Danny oddly. "Roland was killed by the earthquake, wasn't he? We doctors are accused of playing God, but that doesn't extend to causing earthquakes."

"At the moment, Pham's death does appear to be an accident," McGarrett admitted. "But we need to cover all the bases in a mysterious death. What were you two arguing about?"

"The same thing Tom and I are arguing about now — you," Kaylor said.

"Me?" Steve said, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, Five-0," Watanabe amended. "Trevor thinks your investigation is a waste of time."

This time Danny raised his eyebrows. "Two people dead is a waste of time?"

"It's a waste of time to investigate here," Kaylor said. "Nothing has been stolen from us."

"Since we don't know how the drugs are stolen, we're asking all medical facilities to check their supplies," Steve said with barely concealed impatience.

"And since now you have dead administrator, you can expect us to waste more of your time," Danny added sharply.

Kaylor threw up his hands. "Whatever they want," he instructed Watanabe.

"Inventory and surveillance video from today," Steve said.

"We'll get started on the inventory," Watanabe promised. "And I'll tell Kaitlyn to forward the video to your office. It's all digital."

"Thank you. Pleasure doing business with you," Danny said, not sarcastically at all.

* * *

The Five-0 foursome grabbed a late lunch and were just finishing when two calls came in at almost the same time.

Danny took the one from his daughter who had just gotten home from school and wanted to check on her father. While she chattered about their earthquake-disrupted day at school, Steve got a call from Max, asking him to come to the Medical Examiner's Office.

Steve looked at Danny who was fully involved reassuring Grace.

"We'll take it, brah," Chin offered, as he and Kono rose. "Give Danny a few minutes."

"OK, Max," Steve said. "Chin and Kono are on the way."

* * *

Max began talking as soon as they walked in the door. In his excitement, his terminology was even more technical than usual.

"So, was Pham killed by falling bricks?" Kono asked.

"On a cursory examination that would appear to be true, but I do not believe this is an act of God," Max said.

Though he suspected the answer, Chin was willing to play straight man for the medical examiner. "Then what is it?"

"Murder," Max answered, to no one's surprise.

"Why do you think that?" Chin asked.

Max lit up an X-ray. "You can see here two distinct impressions in the victim's skull. They are identical and they match the impression of the bloodied brick that Charlie Fong sent over."

"So he was hit twice by the same brick," Chin interpreted.

"Indeed. A highly unlikely scenario for an accident," Max said.

**TBC**

_A/N: And now, after all this running around, we have a case._


	11. Blood Evidence

_A/N: I think I should mention that the aftershock that didn't kill Pham is the same aftershock that let the looter escape, triggering Chin and Kono's car chase, and the same one that Steve and Danny felt just before they spotted the SUV perched on the cliff._

* * *

**Chapter 11 — Blood Evidence**

When he got the news, Steve turned the Camaro toward Honolulu General. They began questioning staff members, trying to locate anyone who had seen Pham around the time of the afternoon aftershock.

They decided to start with the pharmacy, because it was next to the cafeteria, where Dugan had been working when he heard Pham arguing with Kaylor. The cafeteria was still closed for construction though there was no sign of Innis or his crew when Steve and Danny approached the pharmacist.

He listened to their story and shook his head. "Arguing about the pharmacy inventory? That's not what I heard. They were down the hall there. I couldn't hear everything but I heard Kaitlyn's name a couple of times. Then Pham stormed this way toward the cafeteria and shouted back at Kaylor, 'I'm warning you. Leave Kaitlyn alone!'"

When Steve and Danny again barged past Kaylor's secretary, she called, "He's not here now!" The inner office was empty.

The woman told them Kaylor was inspecting the ICU.

"Was he here during the big aftershock this afternoon?" Danny asked.

"No, everyone was rushing around after the earthquake this morning. Dr. Kaylor left at lunchtime and I didn't see him again until he came back to the office after the aftershock. I thought it was funny," she said thoughtfully. "He looked particularly satisfied with himself. And…" She hesitated. Kaylor wasn't a warm personality, but he was an undemanding boss. She didn't want to get him in trouble.

"And …" Danny prompted.

"And I thought I saw blood on his sleeve," she said reluctantly.

"When was this?" Steve asked.

"Just before the paramedic came in and said her partner had found Mr. Pham's body. Dr. Kaylor hadn't even had a chance to get into his office. He just turned around and went out to the lobby."

"We'll be back," Steve warned.

"I'm sure you will," the secretary sighed.

* * *

"No," Danny said firmly when they got into the hall.

"I wasn't," Steve protested.

Danny eyed his partner suspiciously. "I have no problem surprising Kaylor in his office, but the patients in ICU don't deserve McGarrett storming the beachhead. I fully expect that being your partner will land me in the ICU eventually. I don't want anyone there to hold a grudge against me."

Steve strode down the hall, forcing Danny to hurry to keep up. "Once they get to know you, they'll just sedate you to shut you up," Steve said.

"I'll have you know, I only complain about people who don't know what they're doing, Commander Not-A-Detective."

"I know what I'm doing," Steve asserted.

"What are we doing?"

"Going to talk to Kaitlyn Binnix."

"OK," Danny admitted. "Now you sound like a detective."

They found Kaitlyn trying to organize her boss' paperwork. Her pretty face was twisted with sadness. Her eyes were red and swollen from weeping and she kept a wadded tissue in her hand to dab at her eyes, but otherwise she seemed calm.

"Why were Kaylor and Pham arguing about you?" Steve asked bluntly.

"What business is it of yours?"

"Pham was murdered," Danny said, just as bluntly. "You wanna answer the question?"

"Murdered?" she squeaked. "Look, it couldn't have been Trevor. He wouldn't." She sighed and started over. "Trevor and I have been seeing each other for three weeks now. Roland thought he was taking advantage of me, because Trevor has a reputation with the ladies. I told Roland I could take care of myself, but he felt responsible."

"Do you think Kaylor and Pham could have gotten into a fight over you?" Steve asked.

Kaitlyn thought a moment. "My boss could get worked up. He might have taken a swing at someone, but I don't think Trevor cares enough to fight over me," she said honestly. "Not yet," she added with a smile.

* * *

Kaylor's secretary just waved them past when they charged through. Kaylor was sitting at his desk in his shirtsleeves. His hospital white coat was hanging on a coatrack.

"You lied to us. You weren't arguing with Pham about the inventory. You were arguing about Kaitlyn Binnix," Steve accused.

"We argued about both," Kaylor corrected, unperturbed. "We started discussing the inventory, but then Roland inappropriately switched to my personal life."

"You don't think your affair with Miss Binnix is inappropriate?" Steve asked.

"In the first place, it's not an 'affair,'" Kaylor said with distaste. "Neither Kaitlyn nor I is married. She is not my subordinate in the hospital, so it can't be called fraternization. We are both above the age of consent. Roland had no business interfering."

"Did that make you mad?" Danny probed. "Did you follow him to argue with him and get into a fight? Maybe he attacked you and you defended yourself. I hear he had quite a temper."

"He had. I don't," Kaylor said shortly. "I am a surgeon, gentlemen. Getting excited when things go wrong is counterproductive. And I still don't see why you're wasting time investigating this. Roland's death was an accident." His gaze sharpened. "Wasn't it?"

For an answer, Danny donned his crime scene gloves with an ostentatious snap. He went to the white lab coat that was hanging up. Danny turned the right sleeve carefully and found blood streaking the under side of the cuff.

He touched it, then sniffed the tip of his finger.

"See, it's funny. Our medical examiner says Pham was murdered — bludgeoned with a brick — and you have blood on your sleeve."

**TBC**


	12. Written in the Dust

**Chapter 12 — Written in the Dust**

"Hospital coats are traditionally white so the blood can be bleached out of them," Dr. Kaylor said. "Blood is a hazard of working in a hospital."

"But no one knows where you were when Pham was killed, during the big aftershock this afternoon," Steve said.

"You just haven't asked the right people, commander," Kaylor corrected. "I went to the surgical wing after lunch to discuss emergency procedures in the face of these continuing aftershocks. I was there when the aftershock hit and we had one of those emergencies. Dr. Finch was making an incision when the earth shook. His hand slipped and he nicked an artery. I jumped in to help, not even taking time for proper sterilization, just dumping disinfectant on my hands. He clamped the artery with his fingers while I sutured the cut. I'm surprised I didn't get more blood on me." Kaylor smiled, a genuine smile of a job well done. "I haven't done surgery for several years. It was very satisfying to see I still had the knack and to save the life of a teenage girl whose life should never have been in danger." Kaylor blinked, then remembered whom he was talking to and why. "You check with the staff in the surgical wing, commander. I'm sure they'll confirm my alibi. I'm sorry Roland is dead. He was a busybody, but he didn't deserve to be murdered. We'll do everything we can to help find his killer."

The surgical wing was still buzzing about the administrator's heroics during the aftershock. The Five-o officers didn't even have to ask about the alibi. They heard the story twice as soon as they mentioned Kaylor's name.

* * *

Kono was called to see Charlie Fong in the lab. "Fong, you said you had something for us?"

"Something interesting," Charlie said. "I was analyzing the dust samples you collected at the 'accident' scene." His emphasis said he thought it was anything but an accident.

"It's just brick and mortar dust, isn't it?" Kono asked, as willing as Chin to play straight man for the experts.

"Most of it is, but the sample from the bottom of the victim's shoe also shows hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen," Charlie said solemnly.

"Acetaminophen — that's Tylenol, isn't it? What's the rest?"

"Acetaminophen and hydrocodone bitartrate together, in these proportions, are the prescription pain killer Vicodin."

"Vicodin!"

Charlie nodded. "So maybe this case is related to the pharmaceutical thefts. And there's something else. I found a couple of microscopic flecks of paint on the brick."

"On the murder weapon," Kono corrected, looking at a text from Chin. "According to Max."

Charlie blew up a picture of the paint flecks, so Kono could see them.

"Is that color moss green?" she asked.

* * *

After getting the call from Kono, Steve and Danny went back to Kaylor's office.

"I could find this door in my sleep now," Danny muttered.

They found Watanabe standing nervously in front of the desk and Kaylor with his phone in hand and his finger on keypad.

"That was fast. I hadn't even dialed, yet," the doctor said sarcastically.

"You were right, commander. We have been hit," Watanabe said. He clutched a sheaf of papers in his hand. "Our supplies of Oxycontin and Vicodin have been replaced with lookalike pills. We tested all the narcotics in the supply room and these were sugar pills. They looked just like the real thing."

"There's more," Kaylor added grimly. "The substitution happened today. Pills issued this morning were what they were supposed to be."

"We want to check the supply room," Steve demanded.

Watanabe took them to the pharmacy.

The pharmacist was in the outer room with a small supply of the many medications needed each day. The main supplies were in a large storeroom that was kept locked at all times. The pharmacist opened it for the officers and pointed to where the containers of narcotics were kept.

Danny chewed his lip. He ran his gloved finger across the shelf, leaving a trail in a film of dust almost impossible to see. The detective regarded the paneled wall behind the metal shelves then, without warning, he punched the wall. The panel fell backward into the deserted cafeteria.

"It's a secret passage," he said. "You didn't notice anything?" he asked the pharmacist.

"There was a lot of banging and power tool noise from the cafeteria," the man protested.

"Where did you find Innis Construction?" Steve snapped at Watanabe.

"I don't know! Roland was in charge of maintenance," the Director of Procurement said. "But his assistant should know."

Roland called Kaitlyn Binnix while they hurried through the hospital to her office. She had the records ready when they arrived.

"According to this, Makiki Nursing Home recommended them," Kaitlyn said.

Steve and Danny exchanged a glance. Makiki was one of the nursing homes that had been hit by drug thefts.

"They also had references from Queens," Kaitlyn said. It was another of the theft victims. The woman made a sour face. "They offered a discount to medical facilities, as a 'way to give back.'"

"I'll bet we find everyone had some work done," Danny said.

* * *

Steve got a call from Lori. "So I've been going over the security footage from the hospital."

"I thought the earthquake knocked out the camera on the loading dock," Steve said.

"It did, but we've been going through the rest of the hospital. We've got Innis and Stainten going down in the elevator before the big aftershock. You can clearly see the reaction of people in the hospital to the quake. Then, while everyone is still recovering and cleaning up, Stainten and Innis come back up. Innis is hustling Stainten along. They go into the cafeteria, where the cameras are down because of the construction…"

"Convenient," Danny commented.

"…They come back out with Dugan just a couple minutes later, all of them carrying paint buckets."

Steve smacked his forehead. "They put the stolen drugs into the pickup right under Ab's nose. And we let them drive away!"

"Easy, boy, we had no reason to suspect them of anything then," Danny offered as consolation.

"I'm thinking that Stainten and Innis took some of the pills down — maybe Stainten's share. The quake hit and while they were dodging bricks, they spilled some pills right in front of Pham," Lori said.

"And then Innis, with paint on his hands, grabbed a chunk of brick and killed Pham," Steve said.

Steve was about to rush off to check Innis Construction when he got a call.

"Commander, this is Joe Stainten. I've got to talk to you," the man said hoarsely. "I saw something."

"I'll send someone."

"No, you. You're the one Innis is worried about."

"Where are you?" Steve surrendered.

"At my store. Please."

"We're on our way," Steve said. He sent Lori, Chin and Kono to check out Innis Construction. He and Danny went to Stainten Hardware.

**TBC**

* * *

_A/N: Getting close to the end now. Just a couple of chapters to go._


	13. Trapped

**Chapter 13 — Trapped**

Lori Weston was relieved to finally leave Five-0 Headquarters. Two of the governor's personal security staff were on guard, watching over a crew of repairmen. Putting Five-0's repairs near the top of the list was Governor Denning's way of apologizing for not requesting a complete inspection after the Laura Hills' bombing.

To be fair, he'd been overwhelmed, what with taking office unexpectedly after his boss was apparently murdered by the handpicked leader of her crime-fighting task force. At the time, Denning had never expected to recreate Five-0.

* * *

Lori met Chin and Kono outside Innis Construction. The place looked quiet, which might not be suspicious if Innis and his crew were out on another job. They definitely weren't at Honolulu General — Steve had double-checked before leaving the hospital. Innis, Dugan and their crew of four had been seen to leave soon after Five-0 finished talking to Innis.

Chin patiently watched the construction yard and office with binoculars, but saw no one. "The two trucks aren't in the yard," he reported.

Kono looked up from her tablet. "They don't have permits for any other jobs right now. Just Honolulu General."

"But they could be out, inspecting a site, giving an estimate," Lori suggested.

"All six of them?" Kono said skeptically.

Lori grabbed for the door handle as the earth shivered in another aftershock. The small car shook like a dog after a bath and then settled down again.

Chin had to take the binoculars away from his face during the shaking, but he could see a stack of clay pots topple and smash during the quake. And yet no one came out of the office to check on the noise.

"That's it. We're going in," the lieutenant said.

The three Five-0 officers were already suited up in their Kevlar vests. The women drew their guns and followed Chin to the office. He gestured Kono to go around back, then he gently checked the doorknob. It was locked.

He turned and kicked backwards, springing the lock. Lori shouted "Five-0! Hands up!" as she darted in to the left. Chin followed, going right. Kono appeared at the back door.

The three carefully checked every door, every nook and cranny in the building and then prowled through the open yard, but they were the only people on site.

And then Chin's satellite phone rang.

* * *

There was a hand-lettered "closed for inventory" sign on the hardware store door when Danny and Steve arrived. The main entrance was locked, but they found a side door unlocked. Stainten's green van was parked outside.

The Five-0 officers entered, calling for Stainten. When there was no response, Danny and Steve drew their weapons and began to prowl through the hardware aisles. They didn't find anyone or anything.

"Check the front door," Steve said softly, pointing. "I'm going to look for the office."

Danny checked, but the front door was chained shut. No one had left that way. He started toward the back.

A wall made of diamond-mesh grating separated the front of the store from the employee area. A door in the mesh opened onto a small office alcove with a desk and two filing cabinets. It was crammed into a corner with stacks of lumber and other oversized items beyond. Above the "office," lengths of pipe rested on supports protruding from the wall. The groups of pipe looked like shelves rising up the wall.

Steve cautiously stepped through the door in the grating.

"Mr. Stainten?" he called, just as another aftershock hit.

Danny felt the now familiar lightheadedness and saw the hanging fluorescent lights begin to sway. The motion didn't seem as violent as the original earthquake. It had more of a rolling motion, but Danny ducked under a workbench display just to be safe.

Steve felt like he was on a ship in high seas. He braced his legs against the familiar motion and backed into a corner where the wall and the grating barrier met. The pipes above him began to rattle and the metal door swung dangerously

Above him, Steve heard an ominous crack. The torque of the rolling ground caused a wooden brace to snap, releasing the stack of pipes it supported. The lengths of pipe slipped sideways and rained down on Steve like javelins. He covered his head, ducking and dodging, but he had nowhere to go because the first pipes blocked the door and trapped him in the corner. A jolt from the quake made Steve stagger. One falling pipe knocked Steve down and another fell across his bent left leg.

He lay, covering his head until the shaking stopped and the slithering clank of falling pipes ended. Carefully, keeping his arm above his head, Steve looked up. The pipes had all slipped off their support and were stacked around Steve like pickup sticks.

Steve's leg was pinned down and another pipe, along with his own body, blocked the metal door to the main area of the store.

The metal pipes were heavy enough that Steve was pinned down. His half-reclining position didn't give him the leverage he needed to shift the pipe and when he used both hands, the stack of pipes around him shivered.

Steve stopped still, trying to trace the tangle of jackstraws above his head. If he just lifted the pipe pinning down his leg, the rest would fall on him and he wouldn't be able to protect his head because he would need both hands to move the pipe. If he could move the pipe to his left and the one next to it, he could push away the one trapping his leg and ease his way out of the cage of pipes — but he couldn't reach the first pipe!

With a huff of annoyance, Steve leaned back on his elbows and waited for rescue.

* * *

From beneath the workbench display, Danny could see a row of wheeled trashcans swaying under the impetus of the earthquake. One seemed to rock more than the others, as if it was unbalanced. It tipped more and more, even as the quake began to die down.

Danny had a bad feeling about this.

He emerged from his hiding place, put on his latex gloves and gave the trashcan a tug with just one finger. It toppled over. The lid flipped open and a body flopped out. The storeowner had taken his evidence to the grave.

"Steve!" Danny called.

"Over here."

"I've got something you should see," Danny countered.

"Ditto."

The strain in his partner's voice made Danny trot in that direction. "Are you OK?"

"Mostly," Steve answered. "I'm just … stuck."

"Stainten's dead," Danny said, as he rounded the corner of the aisle and saw Steve surrounded by giant jackstraws.

"I can't say I'm surprised," Steve answered.

The detective jogged up to the metal fence.

"Are you hurt?" he demanded.

"Nothing to speak of," Steve said. He explained his problem, pointing out the key pipes.

Danny poked at the metal mesh fence. He could barely fit the tip of his little finger through the diamond-shaped holes. "I'll have to find a way around," he said. "Don't worry, I'll get you out of that trap."

Danny pulled out his cellphone but he couldn't get through. The towers were again overwhelmed by calls after the most recent aftershock. Danny decided to go out to the truck to get the sat phone. He turned toward the office to tell Steve where he was going.

Behind him he heard the chilling twin click of a double-barreled shotgun.

Maybe Steve wasn't the only one in a trap, he realized.

**TBC**

_A/N: Big finale next time._


	14. The Hardware Hunt

_A/N: Last chapter. Hope you enjoy it._

**Chapter 14 — The Hardware Hunt**

Danny froze, hands away from his sides. He turned slowly to see Arnie Innis carrying a twin-barreled shotgun. Five of his workmen flanked him, four carried handguns though only two had the guns in their hands. Innis' Number 2 man, Darrell Dugan, carried an assault rifle.

"So, the criminal returns to the scene of the crime," Danny said sarcastically. Keeping his hands in view, he stepped away from the blocked gate. He hoped to keep Innis from investigating the gate. Coming from the side, Innis and his men could see Danny, but not Steve. A pyramid of paint cans was in the way.

Innis smirked at Danny. "I brought some help to dispose of the body," Innis said. "Now I can do the islands a favor and get rid of one-fourth of Five-0."

"Boss, if Williams is here, McGarrett is somewhere around," Dugan warned. "They're practically joined at the hip."

"Contrary to popular belief, we're not married, not even engaged," Danny drawled. "But I gotta admit, he's kinda possessive. Hurt me and you'll never see the knife coming out of the night." Danny made his voice as darkly portentous as possible. He was satisfied to see two men shy nervously and look behind them.

The six men approached cautiously, wary of the Navy SEAL they couldn't see. Steve drew his weapon, but the holes in the metal mesh were too small to shoot through.

Danny's eyes were on Innis, but his attention was on Steve.

"Toss the gun over here," Innis demanded, gesturing with the barrel of his shotgun.

Danny drew his gun with two fingers and tossed it at Innis' feet.

Innis indicated for one of his men to pick it up. And again, he gestured with the shotgun. Steve saw the shotgun barrel dip aside from his partner and seized the moment. He rattled the muzzle of his automatic violently against the diamond mesh.

Innis spun, firing at the sudden noise. The buckshot blasted the paint cans apart, sending a rainbow shower across his henchmen. Buckshot balls ricocheted off the metal mesh, scattering in all directions. Dugan cursed when a ball struck his thigh. The man nearest the paint dropped dead, his shattered face mercifully covered by blue paint.

Taking advantage of the confusion, Danny bolted for cover. He vaulted a group of power mowers and disappeared into the Lawn and Garden section. The one man who wasn't blinded by paint followed instantly. He barreled around a corner and was hit in the face by a bag of fertilizer. Danny swung the small bag like a pillow in a pillow fight, but the contents were heavier than feathers. The bag burst, sending granules of fertilizer in the henchman's eyes and mouth and scattering them across the floor. Blinded and choking, the man slipped on the mess and Danny hastened his fall with a well-swung shovel.

The detective handcuffed the unconscious man to the metal shelves, then scooped up the man's gun. A bullet spanged off the metal shelf above his head. Without rising, Danny dove through the open shelves, shoving aside stacks of plastic planter boxes. Toppling a stack of white wicker wastebaskets, he emerged in the housewares aisle and crossed it, climbing over a laundry hamper and squeezing between a display of hanging mops and brooms into the cleaning aisle before turning the corner into the center aisle and fleeing toward the barbecue grills near the front of the store.

"Cut him off!" Dugan yelled, sending the other two men toward the front door to herd Danny back. Innis' Number 2 man ripped open a bag of cleaning cloths and tied one around his bleeding leg, then he limped swiftly to intercept Danny.

* * *

Innis had paused to gloat at the helpless McGarrett, who was lightly spattered with paint and still trapped beneath the weight of the pipes.

Innis reloaded his shotgun. McGarrett clutched his SIG, but neither man could fire through the metal mesh.

The murderer laughed. "You look like you'll keep until I catch up with your little friend."

Steve scoffed. "Danny's smarter than all your men put together. You'll never catch him."

"It's five-to-one, McGarrett. Your man doesn't stand a chance," Innis said confidently. "Don't go anywhere."

Laughing, Innis stalked off along the back of the store. Steve bucked in frustration, shoving at the pipe trapping his leg. The pipe shifted half an inch, just enough to knock another pipe off a chair onto the first pipe, thereby doubling the weight on Steve's leg. He groaned and cursed.

Steve could hear the enemy spreading out to trap his partner. Shots, shouts and a peculiar "whumping" noise told him Danny was still on the move. Steve needed to help, but he couldn't.

Steve angrily thumped the desk at his side. He heard a jingling rattle from above. Looking up, he couldn't see anything, but below and beyond the desk, he saw a phone jack on the wall. A landline!

Steve turned, contorting his upper body until he could lie on the floor and reach under the desk. Ignoring his uncomfortably twisted position, Steve stretched his arm to catch the cord with two fingers.

Holding his breath, he tugged carefully — so very carefully. He needed to pull the phone off the desk. If he pulled the cord out of the wall, he and Danny would be screwed.

He couldn't see the phone, but he felt the weight slide toward the edge. An avalanche of invoices heralded the phone's approach, then it tipped off the desk and fell. Steve snatched his hand out of the way just in time, then grabbed the desk phone and began punching numbers.

* * *

The paint-streaked henchmen blocked Danny from the front door, but the detective hadn't been planning to abandon his partner. He turned right at the barbecue grills and paused in plumbing to take a breather. He popped out the clip of his borrowed gun and cursed. Only three bullets in the magazine and one in the chamber. He needed another kind of ammunition. He filled his pockets with a couple of weighty items and pushed a roll of duct tape up his arm like a bracelet.

As the two men ran down the center aisle toward plumbing, Danny turned into the side aisle and, passing up power tools, took a stand in hand tools. He waited, listening to their shoes squeak on the concrete floor.

As the pursuers leaped into the aisle together, Danny pitched a high hard one at one man's head. The weighty brass faucet flew true and struck like a bean ball, slamming into the man's forehead. His eyes lost focus and he sprawled on the floor, his gun spinning away under the shelves.

Danny followed up by flinging a hammer at the second man. The henchman had time to throw up his hand and dodge, so the makeshift weapon didn't strike true. Snarling, he swung his gun at Danny, so the detective reluctantly gave his position away and shot him, firing twice to make sure. The dying man tried to shoot back. His hand tightened convulsively on the trigger and his automatic emptied itself into the screwdriver display.

Danny threw himself on floor, covering his head until the bullets stopped flying. He cursed the loss of spare firepower and the betrayal of his position. When the noise stopped,

Danny checked the dead man then pounced on the dazed one and quickly bound and gagged him with the duct tape. He could hear Dugan's limping run. Danny only had two bullets left. He had to stay away from Dugan's assault rifle.

Grabbing a pair of bolt cutters off the display, Danny crossed the side aisle to the padlocked gate of the warehouse area. He snipped the padlock and dodged into the lumber storage area.

Dugan saw him and fired as Danny slammed the gate shut behind him. Again the tight diamond metal mesh fencing repelled the rounds and frustrated the shooter.

Dugan yanked open the gate and kept firing. Bullets chopped up stacks of lumber as Danny fled for his life. Dugan started after him, but had to duck back with Danny fired and just missed. Dugan didn't know the detective only had one round left, but he saw a set of tall metal stairs ahead that he could use as a gun platform. From up there, Dugan could mow down Danny whatever aisle he was in. The killer began to run.

* * *

Danny saw the platform, too. He only had one chance to save his life and Steve's. He led the running man, anticipating his rapid progress down the next aisle. Danny aimed toward the six-inch gap between two neat stacks of two-by-fours. Knowing it was his last bullet, Danny took the shot and Dugan ran right into the bullet.

Dugan sagged like a punctured balloon, collapsing to the floor.

Then Danny was running, desperate to get to the end of the aisle, because he didn't know where Innis was. He threw the empty gun away and ran, flat out.

He reached the end of the lumber aisle, turned right and skidded to a halt. He'd found Innis. The killer jacked his shotgun closed and raised it, thumb on the twin hammers. Danny froze, his empty hands fully visible.

Innis saw that and grinned a wolfish grin. "Did you forget about someone?" he taunted.

And then he was astonished to see Danny return a grin equally feral. "Funny, I thought that was my line."

Innis jerked the shotgun to his shoulder. Two quick shots rang out – pistol shots, not shotgun blasts. Innis fell headlong, his torso a bloody mess. The silent corpse landed limply on the floor, allowing Danny to see past it to Steve, still trapped in his steel pipe cage, but with a clear line of sight to Innis.

* * *

"Is that the last of them?" Steve demanded.

"Dugan and one of his guys are dead," Danny answered. "One's hogtied with duct tape, but I'm not sure how hard I hit the guy with the shovel."

"Better check, I can wait," Steve said.

Danny checked. Four dead, including Innis and the paint-covered shotgun victim. One dazed, fertilizer-covered guy in the gardening aisle tugged at handcuffs in confusion. Danny uncuffed him from the shelves and recuffed his hands behind him, then dumped the unresisting crook in a wheelbarrow. He wheeled the henchman over to hand tools and collected one angry, duct-taped crook with an angrier red goose egg on his forehead.

Danny heard, "HPD!" and "Five-0!" in familiar voices from the warehouse area's loading dock and, a moment later, from the front door.

"Danny? We clear?" Steve shouted.

"Clear!" Danny shouted. "I'm coming to the back."

Danny wheeled his captives through the lumber warehouse and dumped them next to their dead boss, at the feet of Chin, Kono, Lori, Duke and half a dozen HPD officers who had just freed Steve from his cage. The commander limped over to his Five-0 colleagues, rubbing his bruised thigh.

Danny leaned casually on the upturned wheelbarrow, basking in the impressed expressions on the faces of his colleagues.

"All these yours, brah?" Chin asked.

"Steve got this one." Danny toed Innis' body. "And he blasted his own guy over there." He waved at the paint-covered corpse. "The rest are mine." He buffed his nails in mock modestly. "Where'd you guys come from, anyway?" Danny asked.

"Steve called us," Lori answered. She pointed at the desk phone amid the fallen pipes.

"I had to do something!" Steve said, just as the ground shivered in another minor aftershock.

"It's the end of the world!" Danny exclaimed.

"I thought you were getting used to the earthquakes," Kono teased.

"Not that!" Danny said. "McGarrett called for backup, two times in one day!"

"It's the apocalypse," Chin agreed with a grin.

Steve patted his gun. "If the zombies are coming, we'll be ready for them!"

"Zombies, earthquakes, murderers — just another day in paradise for Five-0," Danny said.

**_The End_**


End file.
